Early parliamentary elections were held in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

on 11 December 2016, having originally been planned for 24 April and later 5 June. The elections were held in the midst of a political crisis and national protests since 2015. The incumbent

VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

led government, which had been in government since the

2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...

, were unable to form a coalition despite winning the most seats. The centre-left

SDSM The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ( – СДСМ, ''Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija'' – SDSM, – LSDM) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in North Macedonia, political party, and the main Centre-l ...

successfully formed a government with members of the Albanian-interest parties

DUI Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether recreational or ...

and

Alliance for Albanians The Alliance for the Albanians (, ASH; , AA) is a centre-right political party founded in 2015 in North Macedonia by Ziadin Sela. The party has as its main goal the achievement of the full national equality between Albanians and Macedonians i ...

following prolonged negotiations.

Background

The elections were called as part of an agreement brokered by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

to end the protests against the government of

Nikola Gruevski Nikola Gruevski (, pronounced ; born 31 August 1970) is a former Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2006 until his resignation, which was caused by the 2016 Macedonian protests, ...

. The demonstrations were sparked by the wiretapping scandal involving high ranking politicians and security personnel. From 20 October 2015, a transitional government was installed including the two main parties,

and the Social Democratic Union (SDSM). A new special prosecutor was appointed to investigate Prime Minister

and government ministers. According to the

Pržino Agreement The Pržino agreement or agreement from 2 June – 15 July 2015 was a political agreement between the main political parties in the Republic of Macedonia with the mediation of the European Union. The agreement ended the Macedonian political and inst ...

signed in mid-December 2015, Gruevski was required to resign as Prime Minister 120 days before the elections. Assembly speaker

Trajko Veljanovski Trajko Veljanovski (born 2 November 1962) is a Macedonian politician who was the President of the Assembly of North Macedonia from 2008 to 2017. He was graduated from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University working as a lawyer until 1999. Politics ...

confirmed the date on 18 October.

Electoral system

Of the 123 seats in the Assembly of the Republic, 120 are elected from six 20-seat constituencies in Macedonia using

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

, with seats allocated using the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

. The remaining three members are elected by Macedonians living abroad. However, the overseas seats would only be validated if the candidates received enough votes. As they did not, the seats were not awarded.

Results

Aftermath

The Electoral Commission called a re-run for 25 December 2016 in

Tearce Tearce ( , ) is a village located 12 km to the northeast of Tetovo, in northwestern North Macedonia, about 15 kilometres from the border with Kosovo. It is a seat of the Tearce municipality. Population 3,974 (2002). The B-405 road connects it ...

and

Gostivar Gostivar ( ; sq-definite, Gostivari) is a city in North Macedonia, located in the upper Polog valley region. It is the seat of one of the larger municipalities in the country with a population of 59,770, and the town also covers . Gostivar has ...

, though in Gostivar it was called off after the VMRO-DPMNE filed a lawsuit against the decision, and in Tearce the outcome was unchanged.

Government formation

Although

attempted to form a coalition with Albanian minority interest party

, coalition talks broke down in late January 2017. After that, the

pursued informal coalition talks with the DUI, though as late as February 2017, coalition talks were frozen on the usage of the Albanian language. These talks were also blocked by VMRO-DPMNE President

Gjorge Ivanov Gjorge Ivanov (, ; born 2 May 1960) is a Macedonian academic and politician, who served as the President of (North) Macedonia from 2009 to 2019. Early life and education Ivanov was born in Valandovo on 2 May 1960. He finished primary and seco ...

over fears of "a loss of sovereignty" to Albanians under the proposed government. A government was finally approved between SDSM and members of DUI and the

in May 2017. SDSM leader Zoran Zaev became prime minister. Coalition talks were impacted by the storming of the parliament building in April. Protestors, who opposed the election of the first Albanian-speaker of Parliament,

Talat Xhaferi Talat Xhaferi (; born 15 April 1962) is a Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of North Macedonia from January to June 2024. He previously served as the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia from 2017 to 2024 ...

, targeted MPs who belonged to Albanian-interest parties and the SDSM.

Notes

References

{{Macedonian elections

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Elections in North Macedonia